Experts Line-up Behind Internet Freedom Coalition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa – February 24, 2009 – Campaign for Democratic Media (CDM) has joined forces with The Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) to make a formal submission to the CRTC traffic management hearing on behalf of the SaveOurNet.ca coalition and all Canadians. The submission includes testimony from network engineers showing that Internet Service Providers have no technical need to unilaterally limit access to online services and content.

Internet experts Dr. David Reed of MIT, Dr. Andrew Odlyzko of the Minnesota Internet Traffic Studies (MINTS) project, and Bill St. Arnaud Chief Research Officer for CANARIE Inc., Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization helped prepare the CIPPIC/CDM submission (find their bios below).

David Fewer, Acting Director at CIPPIC, said today that the CRTC Public Hearing comes at a critical time in the history of the Internet. “Up until now, Canadians have enjoyed an open Internet, and we’ve thrived. But Canadian ISPs are changing their networks, moving from an open system to a controlled system – and this has implications for privacy, innovation, security, and creativity. We felt we needed the expertise to match the importance of the issues. The experts who agreed to help us are at the top of their fields, and they really came through for us.”

SaveOurNet.ca co-founder Steve Anderson is very excited about the joint submission and declared today: "We offer this well-researched submission on behalf of the broad SaveOurNet.ca coalition and we hope the CRTC is aware that this is an issue with a few telecom carriers on one side, and the rest of Canada on the other".

Although the February 23rd deadline has passed, you can still submit comments to the CRTC at http://www.SaveOurNet.ca. SaveOurNet.ca will continue to collect citizen comments until July 6 and will use these comments to instruct its public interest presentation at the traffic management hearing.

Canadians can send their comments to CRTC by visiting:http://SaveOurNet.ca/content/take-action

You can view the CIPPIC/CDM submission at:
http://www.cippic.ca/uploads/File/Argument_-_CRTC-PN2008-19_-_FINAL_-_23...

*Find our network engineer bios below*

For more information contact:

David A. Fewer
Acting Director
CIPPIC
The Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic
Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
(613)562-5800 ext. 2558
www.cippic.ca

Steve Anderson
Co-founder
SaveOurNet.ca and CDM
(604) 837-5730
[email protected]
http://saveournet.ca

About CIPPIC: CIPPIC is the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, Canada’s only technology law clinic. CIPPIC was established in 2003 at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. CIPPIC’s mandate is to advocate for balance in policy and law-making on issues arising out of new technologies.

About CDM: CDM is a network of public interest organizations and people pushing for media democracy in Canada.

Abbreviated bios for our network engineers:

Dr. David P. Reed
Dr. David P. Reed Currently Adjunct Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Laboratory, Dr. Reed has played a significant role in the development of the underlying architecture of the Internet, contributing to the design and development of IP, TCP, and UDP – the protocols central to today's Internet. Dr. Reed co-authored the seminal paper establishing the “end-to-end” networking principle. Along with Andrew Lippman, Dr. Reed currently heads the Viral Communications group at MIT Media Lab. He is also a founding director of the MIT Communications Futures Program. Dr. Reed is also currently an HP Fellow at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories. He has served on the Technological Advisory Council of the Federal Communications Commission.

Dr. Odlyzko
Dr. Odlyzko is a professor in the University of Minnesota’s School of Mathematics. He is engaged in a variety of projects, from mathematics to security and Internet traffic monitoring. He had 26 years of experience in research and research management at Bell Telephone Laboratories, AT&T Bell Labs, and AT&T Labs, until moving to Minneapolis in 2001. Between 2001 and 2008, he was at various times the founding director of the interdisciplinary Digital Technology Center, Interim Director of the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute, Assistant Vice President for Research, and held an ADC Professorship, all at the University of Minnesota.

Bill St. Arnaud
Bill St. Arnaud is the Chief Research Officer for Canada's Advanced Internet Development Organization (CANARIE Inc.) where he has been responsible for the coordination and implementation of Canada's next generation optical Internet initiative called CA*net 4. He is also the principal architect of the User Controlled LightPath concept, was the President and founder of a network and software engineering firm called TSA ProForma Inc., and was featured by TIME Magazine Canada as the engineer who is wiring together advanced Canadian science.

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